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Abstract.
It is well established that employees of all professions can be affected by stress at work that can lead to burnout, but this problem occurs especially in the case of workers in social services. It is known that the real work of social workers entails great mental and emotional stress which may be an important factor for burnout. Supervision holds a special place in preventing burnout. Aim : Starting from this consideration, our paper highlights the importance of group supervision as a form of supervision in social work practice. Methods : The paper presents a model of group supervision used by a group of social workers from Oradea in their activities. In addition to the methodology part, the paper explores the role of group supervision, capturing both the advantages and disadvantages of using such a method. Conclusions : As the findings of the paper we emphasize : the key role that supervision has in social work practice, the importance of this kind of work for both specialists, for personal and professional development purposes and also for service users by improving the quality of services provided by social workers. Further implications : As recommendations we mention : awareness of the need for supervision by social work practitioners and by policy makers in the institutions that provide social services and the institutionalization of such practices.
Keywords : group supervision, social work, personal and professional development
Supervision in social work - functions and theoretical models
Social work can be defined as a profession that creates social change in order to improve the opportunities for dignified living or for social sustainability, the greatest challenge in the profession being the uncertainty and the continuous change the social worker has to deal with the need to reflect upon and understand different levels of difficulty and identify the most appropriate solutions in solving social problems (Karvinen-Niinikoski, 2004). In social work practice, supervision and training empower workers in the process of assessing their needs for efficacy. For financial reasons, training is often ignored. Thus, as a consequence, supervision becomes particularly relevant as a source of training, which helps workers improve their abilities (Kadushin and Harkness, 2002).
The purpose of this paper is to underscore the importance of supervision in social work...